


Playing the Odds

by psiten



Series: SASO 2016 Fills [21]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Birthday Presents, Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2016, Fluff, Inui Sadaharu is a Nerd, M/M, Miniscule Spoilers, Missing Scene, Original Prince of Tennis Post-Season, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 18:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13464144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/pseuds/psiten
Summary: Original Prompt:package: spiral-bound notebook with a curly gift ribbon on the frontto: senpaifrom: kaidounote: happy birthday(optional note to filler: if you wanna, have the note say "happy birthdata" instead)Inui pays very close attention to everything Kaidou does.





	Playing the Odds

     The Seigaku grounds were an excellent place to run calculations after practice had ended. Inui by far preferred the area just outside the locked tennis courts to the bus stop. There were fewer people, resulting in an 87% more quiet atmosphere (more conducive to statistical calculations), and by looking at the courts themselves, he was able to produce more detailed memories of the day's training, not to mention the benefits of practicing his posture through the careful application of squats and extensions while he ran his numbers.

     If he maintained his pace, he'd be able to do exactly fifty more squats before walking to the bus stop at an appropriately brisk pace to arrive exactly when his bus would. Training time effectively maximised.

     He had not, however, calculated for the casual hiss he heard as the locker room door closed around the corner from his current position. Kaidou generally went home much earlier, doing a five mile run after practice before returning to his house. How odd. Inui stopped mid-squat, to watch for his training partner's appearance around the corner. Surely there had to be an explanation for such a significant deviation from routine. Kaidou wasn't whimsical, unlike some of the people on their team. He acted with complete regularity, following Inui's scientifically calculated instructions to the letter and exhibiting absolutely flawless growth according to the predictive models Inui had used to generate those instructions. Kaidou was a marvel of regularity, in fact. Not a single aberration in his target versus result ratios. He was, in essence, a human machine -- a living exhibition of perfect data, capable of honing himself according to a completely idealized regimen. He was the kind of regularity that made scientists groan in their sleep with dreams of idealized results coming to life, requiring the experimenter to keep a notebook by his pillow to record all details of the regimen he'd dreamt in order to adapt it to reality. Granted, a sample population of only himself was one that Inui had to admit was too narrow to be predictive, but he found it impossible to believe that anyone with an inquiring mind could observe Kaidou without acknowledging the wonder of his capacity to perfectly emulate mathematically derived growth progressions. His development was a work of art.

     And, as Kaidou turned the corner to see Inui staring at him, he blushed. Given the reduction in visibility due to the shadows on this side of the building, this degree of blushing indicated an embarrassing incident of approximately Kaidou Level 3. Less embarrassing than being caught assisting an elderly lady crossing the street, but more embarrassing by a factor of two than he should have been to run into a teammate unexpectedly.

     Fascinating.

     "S-sempai... I didn't realize you were still--"

     "I often stay late after practice ends, but I don't often see you here. Did something happen?"

     He waited for Kaidou's blush to darken and for his shoulders to hunch, which might indicate that Echizen's cat had returned. Signs pointed to something else, however. The junior's eyes flicked back to the clubhouse for an instant, no more. A less trained eye than his own might have missed it. Then Kaidou told him, "No. It's nothing. Good night, sempai."

     Kaidou set off jogging, faster than normal, no doubt to account for his lateness while still wanting to make it home before his mother had dinner on the table. Lovely woman, Kaidou's mother. Inui still hadn't managed to duplicate the chemical construction of her homemade dashi soup stock. And of course, now that Kaidou had been named the heir apparent to the captaincy, he had a spare key, which would have made him feel more secure in staying late.

     Inui didn't need a spare key. Lockpicking was an art no inquiring mind could afford to leave unlearned, and he'd already used up enough time that he wouldn't be able to do a round number of squats without missing the bus. On the other hand, he would be able to investigate whatever had caused Kaidou to look back at the clubhouse and still have time for a leisurely jog.

     Nothing appeared out of place. On a hunch (which was no doubt an extrapolation of data that his subconscious mind had simply made faster than his consciousness could), he checked his own locker, and found a spiral-bound notebook. On top was a card with, "To: Sempai," written in extraordinarily well-crafted calligraphy, using real ink on rice paper, and a natural bristle brush unless Inui had wrongly analyzed the probably liquid retention level and resiliency indicated by the brush strokes, and he never wrongly analyzed anything. Beside the address line, the words, "Happy Birthdata," were written in an equally fine hand. Although Inui could see from the last stroke before the "ta" that Kaidou had hesitated for half a second. Extra ink had pooled at the end of the stroke. No doubt he'd meant to write, "Happy Birthday," and been struck by inspiration at the last moment.

     How... adorable. The cuteness of that action exceeded all of his previous calculations. He hadn't even realized that Kaidou was aware his birthday was tomorrow.

     Very carefully, he laid the card down exactly where he'd found it. He would come in tomorrow and give Kaidou the satisfaction of seeing him find the notebook. It would be rude to throw off his training partner's plans, of that much he was sure.

     Inui was further certain that in the months remaining between now and next May, he would be able to finish a revolutionary theorem on the statistics of sports training, get it peer reviewed, and publish it so that when Kaidou's next birthday occurred, he would be able to present Seigaku's next captain with an equally thoughtful gift in return. Certainly Kaidou would appreciate having a revolutionary mathematical concept named after him.

     Who wouldn't?


End file.
